About NSU

NSU Factbook

At Nova Southeastern University, our approach to education has always been innovative and unique. We don’t fit easily within the standard niche – because neither do you.

We are traditional, but we’re also young, bold and forward thinking. Our private, undergraduate college offers a personal, nurturing atmosphere, but we’re also an exciting university with a wide variety of graduate and professional degrees.

Established in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1964 as a small college with some revolutionary ideas, NSU was originally named Nova University of Advanced Technology and chartered as a graduate institution in the physical and social sciences. In 1994, Nova University merged with Southeastern University of Health Sciences to form Nova Southeastern University.

Classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 50 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education's criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. We have approximately 24,000 students, 172,000 alumni, a sprawling, 314-acre Fort Lauderdale-Davie campus and a presence throughout Florida, the U.S. and nine countries around the world. Through five decades of explosive growth, our reputation for academic excellence and innovation continues to flourish.

NSU Highlights

NSU scientists are using more than $82 million in externally provided funding for exciting interdisciplinary research projects to make discoveries and produce new knowledge in health care, biotechnology, life sciences, environment and social sciences.

NSU is home to National Champions, All-Americans, Olympians, and future professional athletes. The NSU Sharks have 17 intercollegiate athletic teams that compete in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Sunshine State Conference.

NSU also brings cultural enrichment to the community through NSU's Art Museum Fort Lauderdale; the Miniaci Performing Arts Center; public access to the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center; and academic programs in the performing and visual arts.